Computer engineering combines electrical engineering and computer science to design computer hardware and the software that runs closest to it, including processors, memory systems, embedded systems and the firmware and low-level software that controls them. It is distinct from software engineering, which concerns application and system software more broadly, and from electrical engineering wider concern with power and communications systems. The first dedicated computer engineering degree program in the United States was established in 1971 at Case Western Reserve University, and by 2015 more than 250 ABET-accredited computer engineering programs existed nationwide.
Facts
Core ConcernDesigning computer hardware, processors, memory and embedded systems, together with the low-level firmware that controls them. 1 Core PrincipleComputer engineering integrates electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science, treating a computer's hardware and the software it runs as one designed system rather than two separately engineered halves. 2 Disputed
Origin YearCase Western Reserve University is widely credited with establishing the first computer engineering degree program in the United States in 1971. Connections
Associated With
Laid the theoretical foundation of computing and helped design early stored-program computers.
Co-designed the TCP/IP protocols underlying the internets networking hardware and architecture.
Designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical forerunner of the programmable computer.
Co-built the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, an early electronic digital computer.
Computer engineering grew out of electrical engineering as digital logic and processors became a distinct specialty.
Led design of the Intel 4004, the first commercial single-chip microprocessor.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Built Sketchpad, a foundational program in interactive computer graphics and computer-aided design.
Co-designed ENIAC, one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers.
Co-invented the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, an early electronic digital computer.
Co-designed ENIAC, one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers.
Formulated the stored-program computer architecture used by nearly all modern computers.
Built the Z3, one of the first programmable digital computers.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Computer engineering and software engineering meet at firmware and low-level system software.
The integrated circuit is the foundational hardware component computer engineering designs with.
Invented the World Wide Web, running on the internets computing infrastructure.
Transistor, Inventions Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Co-designed the TCP/IP protocols underlying the internets networking hardware and architecture.
Includes
Led the Intel 4004 microprocessor design team and earlier created silicon-gate MOS technology at Fairchild.
Source Federico Faggin (Wikipedia)
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Open Questions
Source Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Business Atlas: IBM, shaped by there.
- Also in Mathematics Atlas: Algorithm, was influenced by this subject there.
- Also in Science Atlas: Algorithm, informed by there.
- Also in Science Atlas: Data Structure, informed by there.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source 2. Computer Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction section
Computer engineering may be referred to as Electrical and Computer Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering at some universities.
Lead section, opening definition of computer engineering
Computer engineering (CE, CoE, CpE, or CompE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software.
History section, Atanasoff and Berry paragraph
Computer engineering began in 1939 when John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry began developing the world's first electronic digital computer through physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering.
History of computer engineering education section, first degree program sentence
The first computer engineering degree program in the United States was established in 1971 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
View the Source A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Ray HoltView the Source Federico Faggin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Federico Faggin, lead sectionQuote, Includes: Federico Faggin, lead section
He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the design group during the first five years of Intel's microprocessor effort.
Open Questions (1 open question)
Was the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1939-1942) the first electronic digital computer, given that it was neither programmable nor Turing-complete?
Wikipedia's Atanasoff-Berry Computer article states the ABC "was the first automatic electronic digital computer...The ABC's priority is debated among historians of computer technology, because it was neither programmable, nor Turing-complete." A 1973 US federal court ruling (Honeywell v. Sperry Rand) held the ENIAC patent invalid because ENIAC derived key ideas from the ABC, but that legal ruling settled a patent case, not the historians' definitional debate over what should count as the "first" electronic digital computer.
What would resolve this A settled, family-wide definitional standard for what counts as a "computer" (mere electronic arithmetic vs. programmability vs. Turing-completeness) applied consistently across every early-computing priority claim, which does not yet exist in the historical literature.
Wikipedia contributors, Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Wikipedia)
Frequently Asked Questions
When is computer engineering usually dated to have begun, and who is credited with starting it?
Computer engineering is usually dated to 1939, when John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry began building what became the world's first electronic digital computer, drawing on physics, mathematics and electrical engineering. Atanasoff taught physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, and Berry was his graduate student, trained in electrical engineering and physics.
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